Category Archives: Islamic History

History of the Fayyum in 1245 CE

Agriculture, Egypt, Islamic History, Islamic Texts, Scholars, Teaching Resources


I note the presence of a fabulous new website devoted to the history of the Fayyum.

Rural society in Medieval Islam: ‘History of the Fayyum’

The ‘History of the Fayyum’ is a unique tax register, in Arabic, listing revenues from 130 villages and hamlets in one Egyptian province for AD 1245. It is the most detailed tax survey to have survived from any region of the medieval Islamic world, a Domesday Book for the medieval Egyptian countryside.

This website offers the tools for a quantitative and qualitative micro-study of society, economy, and agriculture of medieval Fayyum. It gives access to:

* Full fiscal and demographic data set, presented in 17 Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets.
* Spatial representation of the data, presented in 14 Geographical Information System (GIS) maps.
* Extracts from the English translation and Arabic edition of the work.

It also includes resources for teaching the rural history of the Middle East, and a forum area for postings on the history of the Fayyum (available from September 2011). Continue reading History of the Fayyum in 1245 CE →

Gems of Arabic Literature #2: Political Advice

Islam and Christianity, Islamic History, Orientalism


With the virtual flood of book digitalization quite a few obscure books are now available online either at archive.org or through Google. I recently came across a gem: a translation of a high school Arabic text used in Aden by the British at the start of the 20th century. The title page was shown in a previous post. The full text can be downloaded as a pdf here. The excerpt above offers some sound political advice, relevant even to leaders today.

When a Baghdadi taught the Spanish

Books You Should Read, Food and Drink, Islamic History, Scholars


For both a delightful read and a handy recipe book I suggest Ziryab: Authentic Arab Cuisine by Farouk Mardam-Bey and illustrations by Odile Alliet. This was published in 2002 by Ici La Press.

Here is a selection from the foreword:

Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn Nafi’ was born in Iraq in 789 C.C. His family, however most likely originated in Persia. With a melodious voice, dark skin, and gentle manners, he was nicknamed Ziryab, the name of the harmoniously mellow black bird. He received a solid education in the humanities and sciences, especially in geography and astronomy, and eventually became the favorite disciple of Ishaq al-Mawsili, the Abbasid court’s most famous musician and singer. Nevertheless, resentment replaced the preferential treatment he received by his master Ishaq al Mawsili who became envious of Ziryab’s immense success with the great caliph Harun al Rashid to whom he had introduced his protègè. As a result, Ziryab had to leave his country when he was just thirty years old. Continue reading When a Baghdadi taught the Spanish →

Central Asian, Early Iranian and Islamic Numismatic Conference

Anthropology/Sociology, Archaeology and Antiquities, Central Asia, Conferences and Talks, India, Iran, Islamic History, Rasulids, Yemen


The Third MECA Seminar on early Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, this Sunday, April 10, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm in 106 Breslin Hall. This seminar has been organized by Prof. Aleksandr Naymark and is open to faculty and students of Hofstra University and to the public, free of charge. For more information, check out the conference website.

Program

Session I: Early Islamic Coinage
10:30 am to 12:00 pm

• Konstantin Kravtsov (State Hermitage Museum)
An Obscure Period in the History of Tabaristan (760s AD): Analysis of Written and Numismatic Sources

• Stuart Sears (Wheaton College)
Crisis on an Asian Frontier: The Countermarking of Umayyad Dirahms in Khurasan in the Early Eighth Century CE

• Luke Treadwell (Oxford Univeristy)
Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
The Very Last Sogdian Coin

Lunch break
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Session II: Classical Age of Islamic Coinage
1:00 pm to 2:15 pm

• Michael Bates (American Numismatic Society)
The Second Muhammadiyya, the Mine of Bajunays

• Arianna d’Ottone (La Sapienza University of Rome)
From Russia to Rome: the Stanzani Collection of Islamic Coins

• Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
Byzantine Anonymous Folles from Qarakhanid lands in the Ferghana and Chu Valleys

Coffee Break
2:15 pm to 2:30 pm

Session III: On the Borders: India and Yemen
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm

• Waleed Ziad (Yale University)
Islamic Coins from a Hindu Temple: Reevaluating Ghaznawid Policy towards Hinduism
through new Numismatic Evidence from the Kashmir Smast in Gandhara

• Daniel Martin Varisco (Hofstra University)
Rasulid Coinage in the Daftar of al-Malik al-Muzaffar: A Preliminary Textual Study

Coffee Break
3:30 pm to 3:45 pm

Session IV: Mongols
3:45 am to 5:00 pm

• Stefan Heidemann (Metropolitan Museum of Art B Bard College Graduate Center)
The Coin Finds from the Heart of the Mongol Empire: Qaraqorum Results of the Bonn University Excavation

• Necla Akkaya (Selcuk Universty)
Coins of the Ilkhanid ruler Abu Sa`id Bahadur Khan

• Olga Kirillova (Orel, Russia), Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
A Copy of the Seal of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan II Asen from Samarqand

General Discussion
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Dinner in Brooklyn – 6:45 pm

Café Uzbekistan
2170 86th St. Brooklyn, NY 11214 (in the first block east of the crossing with Bay Parkway; parking on the sides streets)
Tel.: (718) 373-9393

New book on Rasulid Yemen

Books You Should Read, Islamic History, Maps, Rasulids, Yemen


Last month I was invited by historian Eric Vallet to a conference on the Yemeni town of Yaiz in the Rasulid era. Eric has recently published an extraordinary study of the economic system of the Rasulid sultanate in the late 13th century and early 14th century, drawing on the growing corpus of court and tax documents, many of which have been edited by the Yemeni historian Muhammad Abd al-Rahim Jazm. Anyone with an interest in Rasulid Yemen will need to start with Eric’s masterful study. Details on the text, which is in French, are below:

Eric Vallet, L’Arabie marchande. Etat et commerce sous les sultans rasûlides du Yémen (626-858/1229-1454), Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2010 (Bibliothèque historique des pays d’Islam, 1), ISBN 978-2-85944-637-6. Continue reading New book on Rasulid Yemen →

A Geography Lesson from 1879: #5: Turkey in Europe

Anthropology/Sociology, Lithographs, Orientalism, Ottoman Empire, Turkey


In a previous post I presented an account of the geography of Arabia and Turkey in an 1879 geography school text. Here is the discussion on the European part of the declining Ottoman Empire:

1. TURKEY, constituting the European dominion of the Ottoman Empire, comprises the middle portion of the great southeastern peninsula of Europe.
2. The Climate in some places is severe, but is healthful and favorable to the growth of all the common cereals.
3. The Soil is productive, yielding in abundance the useful grains, tobacco, and grapes, as well as the olive and mulberry. Much attention is given to the culture of plants yielding medicines and perfumes. Continue reading A Geography Lesson from 1879: #5: Turkey in Europe →

A Geography Lesson from 1879: #4: Arabia and Turkey

Anthropology/Sociology, Lithographs, Oman, Orientalism, Ottoman Empire, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen


In a previous post I continued a thread from an 1879 school geography text. At the time much of the Arab World was under the control, nominal at times, of the Ottoman Empire. This text divided the Ottoman holdings into those in Asia, discussed below, and those in Europe, to be given in a separate post.

1. Arabia is a great plateau, abounding in deserts, and possessing but few fertile districts, except along the coast. Its area is about 1,000,000 square miles.
2. The Climate is the dryest in the world, rain seldom falling anywhere, and the heat being intense, especially in the lowlands and deserts.
Arabia has been divided into three parts: – ARABIA FELIX, happy or fertile; ARABIA PETRAE, stony; and ARABIA DESERTA, desert. The fist of these divisions borders on the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea; the second lies on the northeastern shore of the Red Sea; and the third includes all of the central portion of the country. The cultivated tracts are generally near the mountains, from which rivers descend in the rainy season and thus enrich the soil. Numerous oases re found in the desert regions. Continue reading A Geography Lesson from 1879: #4: Arabia and Turkey →

Ottoman Palestine

Architecture, Lithographs, Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Travel, Turkey


A friend recently brought my attention to an Arabic website with a fascinating collection of illustrations and photographs about Palestine under Ottoman rule. I also came across another site with illustrations of Jerusalem in the Ottoman era. I attach two examples here from the latter website, although the site does not specify the source or date of the images. Continue reading Ottoman Palestine →